I'll Drive You Crazy (until you admit we're not just friends)
by allthingsavenger
Summary: Tony is Tony, which means he tries everything to get Steve to admit they're more than just friends. Steve is Steve, which means he is adamant that they are nothing more than very good friends... until even he admits that's not really the case anymore.


Steve was surprised to say the least when he opened his bedroom door one morning and found Tony standing outside it, his hand raised in a fist ready to knock. He blinked, once, twice before stepping outside and closing the door behind him.

"Tony," he said, raising his eyebrows and smiling in what he hoped wasn't a confused grimace, but probably was.

Tony opened his mouth, closed it, lowered his still upraised fist then opened his mouth again and started babbling.

Steve yawned and shielded his eyes from the bright morning light, cogs in his brain turning at a ridiculously slow pace. Tony's mouth was moving, but nothing was really registering through the slop that was Steve's brain matter this morning. He scratched his head and focused on the cut on Tony's cheek.

"-what do you say?"

The question caught Steve off guard and he narrowed his eyes, trying to make sense of the baffling query.

"Uh," was his succinct reply. Tony eyed him cautiously, waiting for a reply.

"Yeah?" he asked finally, hoping that that was the right answer.

"Great!" Tony said, clapping his hands in obvious glee before promptly turning on his heel and skipping back down the corridor from whence he came.

Steve stared after him for a long, drawn out moment.

"Wait a minute," he said finally but by then there was no trace of Tony left on his floor.

* * *

When Steve finally found Tony, he was holed up in his workshop, tinkering with some delicate piece of machinery. He stood for a moment, taking in Tony's focused hunch and wondered if this was the best time.

"Hey, so uh, Tony," he ventured, wandering past scattered bits of metal strewn across the workbenches.

"What's up, cupcake?" came the reply and Steve's cheeks flushed instantly at the nickname.

"Well, I was wondering about this morning-" Steve began and was startled when Tony dropped what he was working on with a clatter and stood up abruptly.

"You didn't change your mind did you?" he asked and Steve could only stare in bemusement at his friend.

"Well that's the thing, Tony," Steve said. "About this morning, I, uh, just woke up when you asked me... whatever you asked me and I sort of, agreed to whatever it was without actually agreeing?"

They stood in silence for a moment as Tony stared at Steve's face, project long forgotten.

"Sorry," he added sheepishly.

The silence stretched for an uncomfortable moment and Steve resisted the urge to fidget.

"Awkward," Tony said at last, folding his arms over his chest. "Nevermind, it wasn't important."

He turned to head back to the workbench but Steve grabbed his wrist, pulling him back around.

"Tony," he said, eyebrows pulled together in a frown. "Please, just tell me what you asked."

Tony studied his face for a moment, a look of doubt flashing across his face. He bit his bottom lip between his teeth but made no move to pull away from Steve.

"I asked you out on a date, okay?" he said at last and blinked up to meet Steve's eyes. Steve didn't move, shock rendering him motionless.

"Oh."

"Oh is about right, I guess," Tony said nonchalantly.

"Like, a date date," Steve repeated.

Tony sighed, loud and dramatic. "Yes, like a date date. Is it still a go ahead?"

Steve looked away from Tony's hopeful expression, avoiding his gaze.

"Tony, you're my friend," he said, voice strained. "You're my best friend, but I just, I just don't see you that way."

Tony remained silent and when Steve eventually risked a glance back down at him, his expression was unreadable.

"Huh," he finally concluded and looked Steve in the eye. Where he had expected to see hurt or rejection, Steve only saw the familiar steely determination that shone in Tony's eye when he took on a challenge.

"We'll see about that," Tony said matter-of-factly and tapped him on the nose before turning back towards the workbench.

Steve could only groan.

"You," he said, pointing at the retreating billionaire's back, "are impossible."

* * *

Tony kept true to his word, much to Steve's eternal embarrassment. When Valentine's day rolled around and he headed down to the workshop, he was greeted by an excited Dummy who grabbed a clawful of his shirt and didn't let go.

"Whoah, Dummy!" he exclaimed as he was dragged bodily between workbenches and past holographic screens.

"What's going on?" he asked but his friend was nowhere to be seen. Steve swallowed, trying to suppress the feeling of impending doom.

The bot stopped in front of one of the displays and gestured with his claw. Steve leaned forward, trying to pinpoint what it was he was supposed to be seeing. He frowned at the image of the Avengers tower, rotating in mid-air.

"I don't-" he began as something caught his eye. Dummy hummed contentedly as he tapped the star. The projection zoomed in and Steve recognised the location of the workshop. The star came to life, blinking a bright blue. It began to move, lighting up a trail behind it. Steve watched as it blinked up the tower to the landing deck. It continued, stopping right at the edge where a red 'X' flashed into existence.

"I have a bad feeling about this," he said, straightening. He eyed the bot suspiciously for a second then sighed. "Wish me luck."

Dummy made a whirring sound as Steve picked his way back through the workshop. He could almost have sworn the bot was laughing at him as he hit the button on the elevator.

* * *

He couldn't spot Tony when he stepped out onto the landing deck so he shrugged and headed for the edge.

Steve heard the footfalls approaching him from behind but he didn't make a move to turn around. Two hands slid in front of his eyes and covered his vision and he didn't need to guess to know who they belonged to.

"Please tell me I'm not going to die of embarrassment," he said and was rewarded with the familiar sound of Tony's chuckle.

Tony's hands were gentle as they guided him first forwards and then backwards and finally spun him around in a circle.

"What do you say?" Tony said in his ear as he lowered his hands. As soon as Steve had a clear view of the sky, he groaned and covered his eyes.

"Why do you have to do this to me?" he asked but he couldn't hide the smile in his voice. He turned back to Tony and started laughing when he saw the brilliant red rose clamped between the billionaire's teeth.

"You can answer the question when you stop laughing at me," Tony commented dryly, plucking the rose delicately from between his teeth with two fingers. "And for the record, I do not appreciate being laughed at. I put in all this effort and I get one Steve Rogers laughing at me? No seriously, it's not funny- stop laugh- stop-"

But he was laughing too and it was a moment before they both caught their breaths. Steve took the rose from Tony and inhaled it's sweet scent. He eyed his friend who stood waiting for an answer.

"Well," he said and turned away from his friend to gaze at the sky where fluffy white letters spelled out

Steve, be my Valentine?

in embarrassingly large loops for the whole world to see. Steve turned back to Tony, considering and leaned in so his lips were right next to Tony's ear. He let the question hang in the air for a drawn out moment without saying anything.

"No," he whispered finally and pulled away with a grin. Before Tony could react, he danced away, serum-enhanced muscles enabling him to get halfway back to the confines of the tower before Tony could process the answer.

"Aw man!" he heard Tony say and turned back in time to see him throw his hands in the air. And then he was chasing Steve and Steve was running and laughing at the same time.

Steve dived behind the couch, grabbing a pillow to defend himself with just as Tony came barrelling through the doorway.

"Steeeeeve" he screeched, grabbing a pillow and launched himself at the larger man, and then, "oomph!"

Steve rolled, avoiding Tony's thrashing arms as Tony shoved a pillow in his face.

"Play nice," he admonished, pinning Tony's arms to the floor.

"You play nice," retorted Tony, trying to wriggle out of Steve's grip. "You and your enhanced super-strength."

Steve grinned and was caught off-guard as Tony jammed his knees into his stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs. He reached for a pillow but Tony had twisted free and grabbed his shirt.

Finding himself nose to nose with his friend, Steve froze, Tony's liquid brown eyes inches away. His friend blinked, ridiculously long lashes dipping down as he glanced at Steve's lips.

"What would you do if I kissed you?" he asked and his voice was quiet, low. Steve stared at him for a long moment and then, taking advantage of Tony's distraction, pushed him down and swivelled out of his reach. Tony sighed breathlessly.

"I win," Steve said.

* * *

They were fighting a weird alien species which shot metallic shards from their tails. They were also on suicide watch because the aliens had an irritating habit of leaking gas from their pores then blowing up in a fiery explosion. There was however, about a three second window after they started expelling gas to take them out before they blew themselves up.

Captain America was occupied with his building, aliens making a break for the exits which would lead to the streets. The floor-to-ceiling windows were shattered, shards of glass layering the floor like a carpet, but not quite as soft.

He swung, letting go of his shield at exactly the right moment, and it flew into the midst of the group, knocking a handful out cold before it returned to his waiting hand. An uppercut to an alien's chin snapped its neck before it could ignite itself. He ducked below a row of flying shards, taking out the legs of an alien.

"Avengers!" he said into the comm unit, throwing an alien into it's sibling where they collided with the fire extinguishers.

"Make sure you take them out before they ignite," he said, breathing ragged.

The extinguishers had burst, expelling their compressed load into the air. Steve squinted, the air had become densely foggy within a matter of seconds. He heard the hiss of gas behind him and spun around, catching the culprit with his fist.

"We need to head them into a more central area," he said, trying to see clearly. "We cannot let them spread into more buildings."

Steve reached the extinguishers and fumbled with the valve for precious seconds. When the flow didn't lessen, he ripped it from its socket and flung it out the window to the streets below, a 300 foot drop to the pavement. Two aliens in his way received the same treatment.

The air cleared agonisingly slowly and Steve could just make out a group of aliens converging in the South corner of the building. He raised his arm to throw his shield then stopped, frowning. The tendrils of gas drew his eyes and realisation dawned on him. What appeared to be the alpha alien grinned at him, baring its sharp teeth.

"Damn."

Then flames from the explosion were burning at his exposed face and the explosion itself had blown out the walls and supports of one side of the building. Captain America raised his shield automatically to protect him from the majority of the blast. He looked around urgently for an escape route but the building was already collapsing in on itself, debris raining down on him.

And then Iron Man was there, metal arm making contact with him as he pulled Steve free of the blast radius, and not a moment too soon. Steve managed to hold on to his shield, but only just, the sudden impact knocking the breath from his lungs. Wind whipped away most of the flames, but the explosion chased them, trying to creep through the reinforced material of Steve's costume.

He watched as the building receded underneath them and hoped to God that there weren't any civilians who'd been reckless enough to stay and gawk.

A flame still clung to his cowl so reached up his free hand and pulled it off, smothering the flame on his costume. The building's structure gave and it collapsed with a loud protest, supports creaking in complaint before going down. Steve watched with a grimace at the rising dust and debris in the streets of the city below them.

Tony chuckled, the sound strange through the metallic speakers of the armour. He felt Iron Man shift as they changed directions, heading towards the rooftop of a tall building which protruded from the Manhattan cityscape like a finger pointing towards the heavens.

"Quite a spill there, O Captain, my Captain!" and Steve could hear the smirk even through the armour.

Iron Man changed positions and Steve's heart lurched at the motion. When he had regained his senses, he saw that Tony was-

"Are you serious?" he deadpanned.

"Hmm," Tony said and glanced down. "Yes I supposed I am serious, all things considered. Let's see, I rescued the damsel in distress from a burning, collapsing tower and in spectacular fashion too. So really, it is only fitting, do you not agree?"

Steve sighed in defeat and hooked an arm around Tony's neck. "If it makes you happy, Iron Man."

Tony grinned. "See, I knew you could flirt."

Steve just hoped no one saw him being carried bridal style. It was degrading.

* * *

The Avengers were having a party and Steve could see Tony across the room, a wicked glint in his eye. He braced himself mentally and sure enough, Tony crossed the room, hair stylishly messy and slicked back and okay, that was pretty hot. Not that Tony needed to know, big enough ego and all that.

Tony was saying something, but the music was blasting through the speakers. Steve shook his head and pointed to his ears. Tony paused for a second, and his eyes raked down Steve's body which made him feel self-conscious. He blushed without meaning to and Tony raised an eyebrow at him.

"I-" he began to say but Tony grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him across the room. With his super-strength, he could easily have resisted, but he let himself be towed towards the cluster of people getting down with it on the dance floor.

Steve watched as Tony yanked his hand and he tried to copy Tony but ended up doing a sort of awkward shuffle which was a good enough attempt at dancing for him. Tony stumbled, almost tripping and Steve grabbed him just before he lost balance.

"Have you been drinking?" he shouted over the noise and scrunched up his nose. Tony gave him a look of bemusement as if he was thinking about the question. It was unexpectedly endearing and Steve laughed.

"Yeah!" Tony shouted back as if he had suddenly realised. Then he grabbed the back of Steve's neck and yanked him forward.

Alright, so he was making out with Tony Stark in the middle of the dance floor. It wasn't so bad actually, and it was sort of funny in a way Steve couldn't explain. They made out for what felt like ages and when Tony pulled away he was breathing hard.

"Hot," he said and ran his hands down Steve's chest. Steve let him for a second then grabbed his wrists.

"I think you've had enough to drink!" he shouted above the music. Tony gave him an appalled look which quickly turned into a frown. Steve couldn't help but be amused and apparently it showed on his face because Tony tried batting away his hands. He led Tony back to a table and got him a glass of water.

"Drink," he said and Tony did as he was told. After he put down the glass, Tony eyed Steve dubiously for a long time.

"Why won't you date me, Steve?" he shouted suddenly and Steve laughed before replying.

"I just won't date you, Tony!" he shouted back and Tony pouted. Steve just laughed and shook his head.

* * *

Tony assured him the next morning that he regretted nothing by flinging open his bedroom door, barging into the kitchen where most of them were already eating breakfast and declaring loudly "I made out with Captain America and I do not regret it one bit at all."

Steve rolled his eyes at Tony, food halfway to his mouth and Tony grinned back jubilantly at him. Clint threw a piece of toast at him and it sailed through the air in a perfect arc and hit Tony square in the face.

"Hey!" they heard his muffled voice say indignantly.

* * *

In hindsight, Steve really should have seen it coming the minute Tony made for the microphone. He half stumbled, half strutted to the podium and almost tripped up the stairs.

"I've got a song," he proclaimed loudly, "that I wanna sing for someone, who is, uh, someone, yeah."

He frowned, thinking over what he just said and shrugged. The musicians eyed him warily as the hired singer handed him the microphone. Tony turned around, saying something and waving his hands and Steve watched nervously as the musicians nodded.

They struck up a tune, something lively and Steve recognised it three seconds too late. He covered his face, too late to bolt from the room as Tony started singing.

"Ooooonly yoooooooooooou."

"Oh God," Steve groaned.

"Oh God," Clint groaned. Natasha took out her phone and started filming.

"Can make all this wooooooooorld seem right." Tony gestured wildly in Steve's direction.

"Oh, Jesus, Joseph and Mary," Steve groaned into his hands. Natasha patted him consolingly on the back.

Tony beamed, huge and unmistakably drunk. "Oooooooooonly yoooooou can make the darkness bright."

Steve watched through the gaps in his fingers as he half-slid half-stepped off the podium.

"Kill me quickly, Clint," Steve muttered into his hands, blushing bright red. At least, he mused, everyone else had left and his friends would just have a good laugh and forget about it. Well, more like they'd have a good laugh then bring it up everyday without fail.

"Ooooonly you, and you alone," Tony sang, stopping in front of Steve.

"Can thrill me like you dooooooo."

Steve wanted to die.

* * *

Tony tried three more times to make out with him and managed to succeed only once.

The first time he downed three cups of coffee at 6am before throwing himself onto the breakfast table and sliding down it to stop in front of Steve reading the morning paper.

He grabbed the paper out of Steve's hand and draped an arm around his neck at which point Steve grabbed his wrist and twisted out of his embrace and then proceeded to haul him off the table and onto the floor. Tony whined for three full days that Steve needed to stop 'manhandling the goods.'

The second time they were in a debrief and everyone was exhausted and no one was listening. Fury was saying something and Steve had his chin on his hand and he honestly just wanted to go home and wash off all the dirt and blood he had accumulated from a long day of crime fighting. Tony had pieces of the armour still attached to him and was lying across his part of the desk and into Steve's with his face mashed into the conference table.

Fury kept talking and at one point Tony lifted his face and frowned at Steve, a look that translated into 'I'm bored out of my brains, can I blow something up?' to which Steve frowned back and shook his head. Tony slumped back on his table and then with a shrug, surged up into Steve's space but Steve saw it coming and stuck out his arm, catching Tony square in the chest to which Tony let out an ooft and fell back into his chair.

Natasha sniggered at him and Fury shot him a murderous look.

The third time, Tony had just fallen out of a fifty story building with a bunch of explosives and into a warehouse (why did it always have to be warehouses?) and Steve had just arrived at the site when it had exploded in a fantastic show of heat and light and sound and Steve stood frozen with shock, staring at the smoking spot where the warehouse had been seconds ago until Iron Man had come up to stand behind him and said, "is it hot over here or is that just me? Steve punched him in the shoulder without denying the presence of his relieved grin and then Tony flipped up the face-plate and dragged him forwards and Steve was so surprised and relieved at the same time that he didn't react until Tony's tongue was already in his mouth.

He figured why not and kissed Tony back, leaning him into a wall and Tony made appreciative sounds in his throat which Steve resolved to forget as soon as they stopped making out in the middle of New York. Fortunately, the street they made out in had been deserted and no photo evidence of their escapade was captured.

* * *

Although Steve had insisted afterwards that they were still 'just friends,' Tony had just scoffed and smirked at him slyly and Steve had suddenly started to question the validity of his own assertions. It wasn't clear to Steve exactly when he stopped forcing himself to see Tony as simply his best friend and started to notice the subtle things about Tony which were, if he was watching closely, far too sexual to just be the casual movement Tony passed them off as. For one, he licked his lips about twenty times more than any normal human being and Steve started to feel a very slowly growing sense of want every time Tony brushed past him and lingered for too long or slouched on the couch next to him, tapping away at his holograms while absentmindedly rubbing circles into the inside of his knee.

"Are you doing that on purpose?" he asked once, curiously to which Tony responded by biting his lower lip all too suggestively and asking, "doing what?"

After that, Steve was almost positive that he was, in fact, doing it on purpose. Tony didn't try to make any more advances but now he couldn't stop seeing Tony increasingly inappropriately and Tony seemed to know it which was possibly why he wasn't trying to kiss Steve every time he turned the corner and okay, that was very sly and very well played.

They didn't make any non-platonic contact again until two months after Tony had last kissed him. They had been fighting some invasion of gigantic insects slash robots when Tony had coughed into the comm before it had fallen silent. Steve hadn't reacted at first but when Tony hadn't picked up on his usual string of ramblings he was suddenly gripped by a paralyzing fear.

"Tony?" he ordered into his comm and Tony's uncharacteristic silence made his blood churn. Then Tony had coughed again before chuckling darkly and for a moment Steve thought he was going to be okay and then Tony said, "should have kissed me when you had the chance, Cap," and his comm line died. Steve wanted to punch himself but he swung up extra hard into the soft spot of the giant insect-robot-thing in his way and hurdled it's flailing body, sprinting to where he'd last seen Tony.

Tony was kneeling on the ground, gauntleted hands covering something Steve couldn't see and Steve dropped his shield, crouching down to pull at Tony's arms. He heard a sharp intake of breath and saw Tony shaking his head.

"Tony, talk to me," he half ordered, half pleaded.

Tony looked like he was almost going to laugh it off but his eyes were unfocused, panicked. Instead, he said "I have some rather unsightly sharp metal things embedded in my, uh… self?"

Steve's hands shook as he reached for Tony's arms again and this time he let Steve gently pry his arms away from him. Steve saw the metal casing of the armour pierced, saw blood collecting and felt with a jolt of sickness like the jagged spike had slide between his defences and not Tony's.

"Christ," he breathed and tightened his grip on Tony's arm, not realizing until Tony winced.

"God, Tony," he said and pressed his hands to his face, shaking and was lost for words. He was vaguely aware of the other Avengers and felt an overwhelming rush of gratitude.

"Thanks for having our backs," he said into the comm, "I'm going to take Tony into medical."

Tony didn't protest, which was a bad sign if the blood seeping out between his armour wasn't enough.  
Steve lifted him onto his feet as gently as he could manage, arms shaking as Tony leaned heavily against him.

"Fuck, I don't know-" he started, voice breaking and took a deep breath, trying again.

"I don't know what I can, what-" he stopped and looked at Tony, trying to apologise for not being there fast enough, for not knowing what he was meant to do, god, for not kissing him.

"Just do the same thing you would do for the rest of us," Natasha's voice said in his ear, calming him.

"Okay, okay I can do that," he said and Tony's knees gave out a second before he fainted.

"Tony!" he cried, terror snapping him into motion, catching his armoured body before he hit the ground.

"Medical!" he shouted into the comm and started carrying Tony's horribly limp body back towards the SHIELD garrison a couple of hundred feet away. There were already people streaming out, and he could hear the alarms blazing and when he lowered Tony onto a stretcher he tried not to look at Tony's face, tried not to think.

"He'll be fine," Clint said through his still open comm, "he'll live through sheer force of will."

Steve swallowed thickly.

"Thanks," he whispered but even to him Clint's reassurances sounded strained.

* * *

Tony's condition was 'stable,' according to the doctor's and honestly, Steve didn't want to think about it too hard about it or he might drive himself insane. Instead, he occupied himself by pacing restlessly in front of Tony's ward even though he knew it was driving everyone else up the wall.

'Stable' could mean a large number of things. It could mean he appeared to be doing alright but any change could result in a downward spiral, it could mean they had never had someone come in with a giant jagged robot insect claw embedded in their abdomen and really had no idea how he was doing, it could be (and probably was) just to make Steve stop hopping up and down on the balls of his feet and asking how he was, or, in the most unlikely scenario, it could just mean he was stable.

None of the scenarios made him feel much better but Natasha giving him a stern glare and directing him to sit down succeeded in making him take a seat apologetically.

"Oh my God, Steve," Clint said after half an hour, "stop drumming your goddamn fingers or I swear I'll rip my own goddamn hair out."

Steve shot him an apologetic look and stilled his fingers and Clint sighed, but not aggressively and Steve caught his sympathetic smile which belied Clint's own restlessness.

"Waiting is the worst part," Bruce said, putting a hand on Steve's shoulder to comfort him and he sighed, dropping his shoulders.

"But it's the best we can do," and Bruce was right so Steve waited.

* * *

Tony woke on the fifth day whilst Steve was slumped over one of the unnaturally sanitised tables, asleep. The rest of the Avengers were taking turns at the hospital but he had hardly left. He woke up to find Tony watching him through half lidded eyes, a grin playing around his lips.

Steve pulled his head up, his arms still folded in front of him and stared at Tony and admittedly he looked alright, good even. They just watched each other for a long time silently, and Steve hadn't thought about what he was going to say when Tony did wake up and now he didn't really have anything to say.

Then the corner of Tony's mouth twitched up in a smirk and Steve lurched out of his chair, knocking the plastic table aside and took two strides to Tony's side.

"You asshole," he choked in relief and crushed his lips against Tony's, one hand gripping the side of the cot, the other braced against the wall next to Tony's head so he wouldn't aggravate whatever horrific wounds Tony was still sporting.

He felt Tony chuckle into his mouth and then a hand tangling into his hair and another on the back of his neck, dragging him down for a better angle. He kissed Tony hungrily, messily and felt Tony hum deep in this throat.

"Oh God, I need to bleach my brain," Clint said from the doorway and Steve jumped backwards, breathing hard and flushed furiously.

"How long have you been there?" he asked frantically as soon as he got his breath back and Bruce smiled, "I let the others know as soon as he woke up."

They crowded around, trading insults with relieved grins and eventually Natasha ushered them out, leaving him alone with Tony.

"So," Tony said, drawing out the sound, "are you just going to keep kissing me and then pretending we're still 'just friends?'"

"Definitely going to keep doing the former," Steve said and leaned down to catch Tony's answering smile, "but I'm rethinking the second part."

* * *

"Out of curiosity," Tony asked, looking across at him from the couch, his knees over Steve's lap, "were you playing hard to get or were you seriously just being obtuse on purpose?"

Steve looked over at him out of the corner of his eye and rolled his eyes.

"You're just impossible," he said and leaned over, threading his fingers through the collar of Tony's loose shirt and effectively shutting him up.


End file.
